Directed by Anja Kofmel and screened during Cannes International Critics Week in 2018, this feature length documentary ,which fuses a mix of live action, archive and animation, is a remarkable investigation into the death of war journalist Chris, Kofmel’s late cousin.

This personal story, rich with emotion explains how the death of Kofmel’s cousin has impacted her entire life. Chris travelled to the Croatian War of Independence in the 90’s, and much of the film is set in and around Zagreb. Kofmel appears herself in the film both as a child in animated form and as an adult in live action. We see her visit the places Chris had been, such as hotels and battle grounds and talk to the people he met, such as fellow journalists and ‘soldiers’, in an attempt to discover why and how he died. I thought the inclusion of the animation production process as part…

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A young Bosnian immigrant recounts his experience with war, illustrated in painting-on-glass animation.

The Paint on glass technique used in this film is a great example of what this technique can do. We are visually drawn, pulled, pushed, washed and wiped through the memories of a young boy as he recounts his experience of war. His memories dissolve and reconstruct as we travel seamlessly through time and space in a seemingly endless wave of images, which commands our interest.

The Directors voice can be heard asking direct, probing questions, which results in some unsettling honest answers, accounts of brutality and murder of Haris’s family members, it’s hard listening coming from such a young boy and reminds us of the strength animated documentary can poses in giving voices to those that we dont always get to hear. This is an important film.

“My name is Alpha, like Alpha Blondy, the singer. But I’m not a singer, I’m a cabinet-maker. My surname is Coulibaly.”My new book Alpha which I’ve made with illustrator Barroux has been translated from French to English by Sarah Ardizonne. In the book, I don’t talk for Alpha. He talks through my pen. He tells us of the urgency of his journey, of his courage. He tells us of his hopes, and his delusions. He tells us of his humour. Because laughter is a means of survival.He talks, we listen. He walks, we follow. Little by little, we realise that he is one of our family. And we are his.

Commissioned by Channel 4’s Random Acts, in partnership with It’s Nice That, Anna Gainsburg felt compelled to address the lack of attention given to carnal gratification when female sexuality is depicted in our society: “Conversations I’ve had with close female and male friends over the last decade have shed light on the continuing struggle that women have to engage with and love their own bodies, and to access the sexual pleasure they are capable of… I’ve been exposed to ‘dick drawings’ since primary school but have rarely, if ever, seen a vagina visualised other than in a clinical medical context. So I thought that talking to men and women about vaginas, masturbation and pubic hair – and…